DOES FISCAL DEFICIT CROWD OUT PRIVATE CORPORATE SECTOR INVESTMENT IN INDIA?

Abstract

This paper examines the impact of fiscal deficit and its financing pattern on private corporate sector investment in India, for the period from 1970–1971 to 2012–2013. Using Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) Models, the study finds that fiscal deficit crowds out private investment both in the long run and in the short run. The results also show that internal (domestic) financing of fiscal deficit has significant negative impact on private investment but external (foreign) financing of fiscal deficit has insignificant effect. In the short run, availability of bank credit plays a more important role in investment decision making than the rate of interest in India. The study suggests that government should maintain the fiscal deficit within a sustainable level by reducing its unnecessary non-developmental expenditure, subsidies etc. The government should restructure its financing pattern of fiscal deficit since internal financing has a significant negative impact on private investment.